Did Critics Have a Foot-Stompin' Good Time at Lone Star Love?

Lone Star Love, a musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor relocated in post-Civil War Texas, has arrived off-Broadway at the John Houseman Theatre. It officially opened there on December 8. Did the tuner make critics yell yee-haw?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Edward Karam in his Broadway.com Review: "Shakespeare's plays have lent themselves to a number of grand, comical musicalizations, notably Kiss Me, Kate and Two Gentlemen of Verona. But The Merry Wives of Windsor has languished--apart from Verdi's opera Falstaff--and for good reason: indecipherable jokes, arguments over Latin and obscure Elizabethan oaths. John L. Haber's adaptation of the play into a country-western musical wisely jettisons most of the fustian, although it gets off to an erratic start. Thankfully, a winning cast under Michael Bogdanov's direction is committed to providing a walloping good time… The show is crowded with throwdowns, hoedowns and showdowns, exuberantly choreographed by Randy Skinner, although fight director Malcolm Ranson contributes a great brawl. The lilting score includes an amusing anthem to cattlemen and a charming ballad addressed to the prairie moon. On occasion the lyrics falter, but at his best Herrick does nifty work."

Charles Isherwood of The New York Times: "Lone Star Love boasts a tangy country-and-blues score by Jack Herrick, artistic director of the Red Clay Ramblers, who is joined onstage by his fellow Ramblers Clay Buckner and Chris Frank. Together they play Falstaff's famous sidekicks. But as melodious as Mr. Herrick's songs are… they essentially adorn or interrupt the action rather than propel it forward. With the musical's score and its book proceeding on parallel tracks, the show tends to dawdle when it should sprint. The cast certainly can't be faulted for a lack of energy. With accents as broad as the Rio Grande, they romp, stomp, sashay, sneer or snarl with an exuberance that skirts caricature or embraces it, depending on their characters' comic purposes… Lone Star Love is the kind of pleasant, competent, thoroughly innocuous show that somehow leaves you with an itch for the offensively bad."

Steven Oxman of Variety: "From the get-go, this is a show that wants to be liked, with plenty of talent at its disposal to generate that feeling. There's a fine, spirited cast, polished direction, good music and even some tasty morsels of grub: By all means, try the chili. But all the skill and Southern hospitality can't correct the show's fundamental misconception: The tone of story and song never fuse but work in counterpoint… The show's music, played by the wonderful Red Clay Ramblers Fool Moon and written by their own Jack Herrick, seems from the start more in tune with the sadness of loss and the true longing of love than with the badness and lust of John Falstaff… Jay O. Sanders makes a solid Falstaff, but the spirit of Lone Star Lovedoes not belong to him. There's likeability in Michael Bogdanov's attractive production, but not an ounce of anarchy. The most farcical scenes--and this play is the closest Shakespeare ever came to pure farce--are not funny at all, though everyone goes through the motions quite well." Lisa Tolin of The Associated Press: "A Western, musical version of Shakespeare may seem an unlikely attraction deep in Yankee territory. But Lone Star Love has enough Southern charm to seduce even the most jaded New Yorker… Sure, the idea of setting the Bard to country music sounds counterintuitive. But with charming songs from the Red Clay Ramblers and the sure direction of Michael Bogdanov, the plucky cast pulls it off… Sanders leads a fine cast and manages to pull off honky-tonk odes to money and sex as surely as he recites ponderous soliloquies about his lack of honor. The music by Jack Herrick is winsome, with lovely harmonies and interesting detours that keep it from being ho-hum country fare… With a rousing, foot-stomping finish, New York sophisticates may just leave the theater two-stepping in their Jimmy Choos."

Gordon Cox of Newsday: "The hospitable cast members of the new musical Lone Star Love offer barbecued ribs and cornbread before the production begins, encouraging the audience to sample their Texas treats. At intermission, they bring out lemonade and cookies. During the show, this convivial bunch relishes its hoedowns, and exuberantly executes the hand-clappin', foot-stompin' choreography by Randy Skinner who did the similarly dance-happy 42nd Street. Under Michael Bogdanov's direction, the appealing cast can't quite squelch the feeling that this production takes longer to tell the story of The Merry Wives of Windsor than Shakespeare did… The broad comic strokes with which Jay O. Sanders depicts Falstaff fit a character who, even in Shakespeare's version, is coarser and less nuanced than he is in Henry IV. Whether his shenanigans are set in England or the Lone Star state, he's a wan reincarnation and doesn't sustain a full tale."